ABSTRACT
Asymmetric epoxidation of olefins is a powerful method for the generation of optically active epoxides, which are very useful intermediates for the synthesis of a wide variety of enantiomerically enriched molecules. A number of efficient epoxidation methods have been developed,
including the epoxidation of allylic alcohols,
the metal-catalyzed epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins (particularly for conjugated
cis
- and trisubstituted olefins),
and the nucleophilic epoxidation of electron-deficient olefins.